Wilco — 9 August 2025, Chicago, IL (Old Town School Of Folk Music [Maurer Hall]) [Blue Jean Gala]

[bböp]

For any avid schedule-watchers who might have wondered why Wilco didn’t add a second show at Chicago’s Salt Shed this weekend when the first one sold out so quickly and there were empty dates before and after, I guess tonight’s semi-secret benefit show at the intimate Old Town School of Folk Music is at least part of the answer. The roughly 400 or so folks who crammed into Maurer Hall for OTS’ annual Blue Jean Gala shelled out $500 apiece for an evening centered around a stripped-down set by our favorite alt-rocking sextet.

 

I had the good fortune of being one of those in the room for what a poster for the event billed as a "jam room style performance,” which refers to the well-known but rarely-seen setup that Wilco has backstage at nearly every concert that allows the band to rehearse, warm up or, for lack of a better word, jam before they hit the stage for a given show. So this benefit really was a rare opportunity to see the band in a unique setting for what turned out to be a 14-song, 77-minute set.

 

There have been a handful of such intimate shows that I can remember in the history of this six-piece lineup, including in-store performances at Euclid and Waterloo Records in St. Louis, Mo., and Austin, Tex., respectively, and a benefit for KEXP radio at the Columbia City Theatre in Seattle, Wash. In Chicago, the three-shows-in-one-night at Carol’s Pub and the final stop of the so-called Incredible Shrinking Tour at Lincoln Hall come to mind. But I’m not sure that the public has ever been privy to a “jam room style” set quite like this OTS outing. A glimpse at the printed “setlist” afterward simply revealed a list of 29 songs, ranging from recent staples like Evicted and Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull to classic “hits” such as Impossible Germany and California Stars to relative rarities like At My Window Sad And Lonely and Say You Miss Me.

 

When the band members finally took the stage at 8:45 p.m., Jeff looking a bit like he had just woken up from a nap, they all took seated positions expertly arranged on the smallish stage. Mikael was tucked behind a single keyboard in a back corner with Nels seated on a drum stool with a small array of pedals at his feet at front stage right, while Pat had a single keyboard and a small guitar station at far stage left and Jeff and John perched on chairs in front of Glenn’s scaled-back drum kit. They were close enough that they could all sort of turn and whisper to one another as they decided what song to play next.

 

From the outset, Jeff established the tone with a version of how he usually prefaces his charity solo shows at the Vic Theatre each year. “We don’t have a clear idea what we’re gonna do, and that’s OK because it’s for charity,” he said. “If it’s not good, you’re a jerk to complain about it.” And with that, the band launched into the almost-abrasive noise introduction to Wishful Thinking and the show was finally underway in earnest.

 

Though the band seemed to genuinely be figuring out what songs to perform as the night went on — periodically Jeff would say something to effect of “we’re trying to think of another song (to play)” — the group did end up following the “script” from the printed list for the first third of the set, which included the excellent acoustic rearrangement of Art Of Almost that has been played since last December’s Winterlude shows. Amusingly, as the set started to deviate beginning with Forget The Flowers, Jeff quipped, “Half of us are into doing this one.”

 

One unquestioned highlight, though, certainly had to be a lovely twangy version of I’m Always In Love that I’m not sure I’ve ever heard before with Jeff on acoustic guitar and Pat and Nels providing gorgeous support on electric, Pat’s Telecaster work being a real standout. I can only hope that maybe this lilting version, with Jeff even scaling back his garage-y vocals a bit, will find its way into a regular set sometime soon.

 

In this intimate setting, and especially within the confines of Maurer Hall (which is known as one of the best-sounding rooms in Chicago currently), both Nels’ and Pat’s work on electric guitar really stood out. Their duel on Bird Without A Tail drew the first of several standing ovations over the course of the set, and Nels got another for his beautiful, yet somehow delicate, effort on Impossible Germany. After Bird, Jeff even had to share the observation that “I think we’ve been playing the wrong-sized rooms.”

 

From a Banter Corner perspective, there were plenty of visits despite the relatively abridged show length — most of which featured the recurrent Wilco theme of Glenn as whipping boy. For instance, referring to an auction that was part of the gala and included several signed guitars, Jeff at one point joked that the band had auctioned off all its guitars and then added its keyboards, too. Which left Glenn looking around sheepishly and making a silent “Shhh…” signal to the audience. Jeff, of course, picked up on it and quipped, “Oh, we’ve been trying to get rid of (him) for a long time…unfortunately we have to publish our touring dates.” A couple of songs later, when the start of a song was briefly delayed, Jeff said, “We have to wait for Glenn to get his accoutrements on.” To which a someone in the crowd yelled, “C’mon, Glenn!” And that of course prompted Jeff to chime in, “See, people know who the problem is.” I won’t even get into Jeff almost digging himself into a hole when he appeared to be making another dig at Glenn that provoked some “oohs” from the crowd before Jeff clarified his comments because it would just take too long to explain.

 

Suffice it to say that the vibe of the benefit show was a playful, loose one, and Jeff reminded us before making that possibly ill-fated attempt at humor about why we were all there in the first place. “This is a beautiful place,” Jeff said of OTS, adding that the band couldn’t do a show here without playing at least one Woody Guthrie tune. “It gives us a great deal of pride to be able to help out in any way possible.”

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played, for Wilco's Blue Jean Gala benefit show (there was a printed "setlist," but it was just a list of potential songs, as mentioned above):

 

Wishful Thinking

Company In My Back

Art Of Almost (acoustic arrangement)

Evicted

If I Ever Was A Child

Forget The Flowers

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

I'm Always In Love (acoustic arrangement; Jeff on acoustic)

Hesitating Beauty

Either Way

Impossible Germany

Walken

How To Fight Loneliness

California Stars

[Heart full of holes]

3 hours ago, bböp said:

One unquestioned highlight, though, certainly had to be a lovely twangy version of I’m Always In Love that I’m not sure I’ve ever heard before with Jeff on acoustic guitar and Pat and Nels providing gorgeous support on electric, Pat’s Telecaster work being a real standout. I can only hope that maybe this lilting version, with Jeff even scaling back his garage-y vocals a bit, will find its way into a regular set sometime soon.

Yes, please!!!

Thank you for yet another insightful review, bböp. Wish I could have been there for this one. 

[Albert Tatlock]

4 hours ago, bböp said:

jam room style performance

Generally my personal idea of hell (unless it’s the Fab Four), but seems to have turned out nicely, and good for you to get something mixing things up once in a while. Ta.

4 hours ago, bböp said:

At My Window Sad And Lonely

Sadly missed. If they are never going to do a version of The Unwelcome Guest then that comes pretty close to hitting the spot.

[King oscar]

Thank you bbop. After reading your notes, I feel like I was in the room.  Sounds initiate, perhaps like the Viking hall in Iceland? 

[bböp]

9 hours ago, King oscar said:

Thank you bbop. After reading your notes, I feel like I was in the room.  Sounds initiate, perhaps like the Viking hall in Iceland? 

I assume you meant “intimate.” If so, yeah, that one came to mind as well (though in kind of a different way). 

[nalafej]

This was a memorable one! I've been to the venue a number of times and knew that the typical Wilco rigs weren't going to easily fit and that the band would have to do something stripped down. A Jam Room set? Perfect! They should take it on tour in intimate venues.

 

We sat in the last row of the balcony and had a great view  + the sound was really good too. 

 

I'm Always in Love was sorta mind-blowing to be honest. An absolute highlight and dream I didn't know to have. 

 

The audience was so much better than I had imagined - very respectful and attentive. I think that really helped us get some good song choices. 

 

Nels' Impossible Germany solo often doesn't fully work for me and I didn't think the solo worked that well and Walken hasn't aged well, but hell yeah to every other single moment of this unique show. Chicago is blessed to have Wilco's generosity and creative spirit and this night was a peak example...

 

Great to see bbop and other VCers roaming the streets of Lincoln Square for the event!